Where young sea turtles spend their early lives has always been a mystery - until now

They start their journey on sandy shores, scuttling toward the waves at barely a few inches long. Some people assume these little sea turtles vanish after that, drifting in the open water for years without actively swimming or controlling where they go.

In a recent study led by Kate Mansfield from the University of Central Florida, researchers have pieced together what happens during the early, lesser-known part of the turtles’ lives.

Tracking baby turtles is difficult

Researchers recently uncovered the whereabouts of young sea turtles by using carefully designed satellite trackers. They found that tiny turtles show more control over their movement than once believed.

“We’ve had massive data gaps about the early baby to toddler life stages of sea turtles,” said Mansfield. She explained that this phase was rarely observed in detail.

“Known as the sea turtle ‘lost years,’ few data exist on the in-water behavior of young, oceanic-stage sea turtles,” wrote the researchers.

Young turtles shed their outer shell layers quickly. This makes it tough to secure tracking devices long enough to gather good data.

Engineers refined lightweight solar-powered tags for weeks or months of location data without hindering the turtles.

Young sea turtles don’t just drift

Scientists once believed baby turtles went with the flow of ocean currents. Field data are now challenging that long-standing notion.

“What we’ve uncovered is that the turtles are actually swimming,” said Nathan Putman, an ecologist at LGL Ecological Research Associates in Texas.

The analysis compared drifting buoys with small turtles and showed that many turtles moved on their own instead of washing ashore.

Baby turtles choose where to swim

The difference between turtles and free-floating buoys grew clearer over the course of each tracking period. Drifting objects often ended up stuck on beaches, yet many turtles did not.

“This tiny little hatchling is actually making its own decisions about where it wants to go in the ocean and what it wants to avoid,” said Bryan Wallace, a wildlife ecologist at Ecolibrium in Colorado.

The new findings suggest that turtles choose routes that match their needs for food and safe temperatures.

“The paths of our tracked neonate loggerheads were environmentally constrained. No turtles moved into lethally cold waters,” noted the researchers.

Hidden habitats of sea turtles revealed

Tag data also showed young sea turtles in areas once assumed too close to shore for this stage. Though many do wander across open waters, some appear comfortable dipping into shallower spots.

The researchers noted that such varied paths challenge the old definition of an exclusively oceanic childhood. This highlights the importance of regions near the continental shelf for four types of endangered sea turtles.

It took years to refine solar-powered tags that could function on small, rapidly growing shells. Early versions fell off too fast or failed to recharge in ocean conditions.

“For years, the technology couldn’t match the dream,” said Jeffrey Seminoff, a marine biologist at NOAA who was not involved in the study.

Continued collaboration between ecologists and engineers is bringing once-hidden animal behavior to light.

Conservation efforts for sea turtles

The findings spotlight part of a creature’s life that was overshadowed for decades by hatchling races to the sea and nesting adults on familiar beaches.

Young turtles do more than just drift – they swim toward the open ocean, while others linger over the continental shelf.

“It’s not that the sea turtles were ever lost, but that we had lost track of them,” said Jeanette Wyneken at Florida Atlantic University. This deeper understanding may guide conservation efforts in areas where turtles feed or rest before reaching adulthood.

Rethinking how baby turtles swim

The research suggests that the early life stage of sea turtles is not just a dispersal period. The study captures the reality that little turtles roam widely and adapt their routes to changing conditions.

They might spot floating algae to seek shelter, or they might veer away from predator hotspots. Even in vast waters, these hatchlings can find ways to survive on their own terms.

The study is published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

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